A section of a border wall used for training is visible behind Vice President Mike Pence, center, as he poses for a photograph with Border Patrol agents following a border wall training demonstration at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Advanced Training Facility in Harpers Ferry, W.Va. Wednesday, March 13, 2019. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The Latest: GOP bid to save Trump from defeat near collapse

March 13, 2019 - 11:59 am

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the emergency declaration by President Donald Trump (all times local):

2:55 p.m.

An 11th-hour Republican rescue mission to keep President Donald Trump from a Senate defeat on his signature issue of building barriers along the southwest border seems near collapse.

GOP senators emerging from a private lunch tell reporters that they believe the Senate will vote Thursday to annul Trump's declaration of a national emergency at the border. He took that step to steer billions of extra dollars to barrier construction.

Republicans hoped Trump would support a separate measure curbing a president's power to declare future emergencies — making it easier for GOP senators to support the current emergency.

But GOP officials say Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee announced to colleagues that Trump was opposing his legislation.

Trump will veto the resolution blocking the border emergency. It will be his first of his presidency.

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1:20 p.m.

President Donald Trump is lobbying Republican senators to vote against legislation that would block his declaration of an emergency along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The president says GOP senators "are overthinking" the expected Thursday vote and he tweets that it should be thought of as "very simply Border Security/No Crime."

If Trump's border emergency stands, he could divert $3.6 billion from military construction projects to build border barriers, even though Congress had voted to limit him to less than $1.4 billion for such construction.

Trump tweets: "We have a MAJOR NATIONAL EMERGENCY at our Border and the People of our Country know it very well!"

It's long looked like the Republican-run Senate would join the Democratic-led House in voting to block Trump's declaration. That would set up the first veto of Trump's presidency.

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10:20 a.m.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says the House won't consider Republican legislation intended to curb the power of future presidents to unilaterally declare national emergencies.

Her announcement might make it harder for Republicans to prevent a high-profile rebuff of President Donald Trump's effort to divert more money to building barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border.

The White House and Republican senators are in talks about a bill that would give Congress more power to block emergency declarations from a president in the future.

The hope is that Trump would endorse that plan, and then more GOP senators would oppose a separate resolution blocking Trump's current emergency declaration.

The Senate is scheduled to vote Thursday on that resolution. Its fate is unclear.

Pelosi says in a statement that the House "will not take up this legislation to give President Trump a pass."

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12:05 a.m.

Opposition by a few Republican senators to President Donald Trump's emergency declaration at the U.S.-Mexico border appears to be softening.

The White House and GOP senators are working on a compromise that would limit the power of presidents to declare national emergencies on their own.

A Senate vote is expected Thursday on a measure to reject Trump's emergency declaration, which he's using to get access to billions of dollars for building border barriers.

So far, four Republican senators have said they'll vote with Democrats to oppose Trump's emergency order. If Trump would commit to signing a bill that would handcuff future emergency declarations, some of those senators might support his border declaration.

Even if the Senate joins the House in rejecting Trump's order, he could veto the measure.